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UN ‘overwhelmingly’ linked to cholera epidemic in Haiti

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New scientific evidence “overwhelmingly” links UN troops to a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed 8000 people and yet the organisation refuses to accept liability, adding further to the on-going controversy of the UN troop presence in the country.

According to new report released by researchers at Yale University the United Nations inadvertently caused a deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti in October 2010 and has a legal and moral obligation to remedy this harm. This on-going cholera epidemic has killed more than 8,000 people and infected more than 650,000 in Haiti, a country still struggling with the aftereffects of the 2010 earthquake. Crucially, this conclusion directly contradicts recent statements by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, that have claimed that the UN did not bring cholera to Haiti and therefore has no legal responsibilities for the. As such, the UN has refused to even consider claims by Haitians affected by the outbreak who are seeking compensation.

Not only does the Yale report outline the overwhelming scientific evidence of origin but in doing so it also stress that the UN should therefore be held accountable for the outbreak, thus requiring it to remedy as best as is possible its consequences and prevent its further spread. This is something the organisation has steadfastly refused to do.

Indeed, as detailed below, the $23.5 million the UN is providing towards the $2.2 billion cost of the initiative is contrasted by the on-going cost the UN is paying for MINUSTAH, budgeted last year for over $648 million, a cost that Dr Ivers notes “could more than fund the entire cholera elimination initiative for two years.”

Another initial factor not related to the previous absence of the disease was that the first cases occurred outside of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where domestic and international health professionals were on their guard and working to avoid the outbreak of communicable diseases in the wake of the earthquake. The outbreak of cholera occurred in a rural area unaffected by the earthquake along the Artibonite River in central Haiti, north of the capital, which directly affected both the preparations and response times to the outbreak.

These conditions, and the aforementioned brain drain, are the direct result of Haiti’s poverty, a plight linked to its self-liberation from the bonds of slavery in 1804, the world’s only example of a country being born from a successful slave revolt, and the international isolation and intervention the country has faced ever since. [These themes are explored in two previous Peace News blog articles available here and here.]

It is worth noting that such “populist and anti-market economy political forces” that the US feared were precisely the issues and platform on which Aristide ran for president in both 1990 and 2000 and upon which he was overwhelmingly elected. As such, MINUSTAH was, and is, being used to undermine popular political actions that had an overwhelming democratic mandate.

Perhaps most startling, however, is that despite the enormous economic cost, MINUSTAH has failed to meet the mandate for which it was created, that of protecting the population and stabilising the country.

Indeed, both The Lancet and FAIR have also reported that not only did it fail to combat the violence it was sent to lessen and prevent, but MINUSTAH actually contributed to the violence and death of civilians following Aristide’s removal in a coup.

Leaked diplomatic cables have also revealed the brutal extent and scale of MINUSTAH activities in Haiti.

As the title of the Yale report, Peacekeeping without Accountability, suggest the use of UN immunity both in relation to the origin of the cholera outbreak in Haiti and MINUSTAH’s wider activities in the country has effectively allowed the politicised entity to act with impunity and at great cost to the people of Haiti. As such, the cholera issue should be seen as a window into the wider issues at hand with the MINUSTAH mission in Haiti and the, primarily American, interests it is serving in the country at the expense of both Haitian lives and political capacity building.

(1) UN General Assembly (2010a) Overview of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations: budget performance for the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009 and budget for the period from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011, A/64/643, February 1, 2010; the actual figures are $574,401,700 and $611,751,200 respectively. UN General Assembly (2010b) Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations, A/C.5/65/19, July 22, 2011; the exact figure in the document is given as $793,517,100